I’m on my way to drop friends off at the bus station when I notice a cyclist standing on the grass crying, her bike on the ground next to her. She’s talking to a man, and is clearly upset. I pull over thinking she was either hit by a car or is in a heated argument.

I roll down my window (do we still consider it “rolling” when you just push a button? I digress). “Are you ok?” I ask.

“Yeah, I’m ok. I’m just really upset over what I saw.”

She shares the difficult scene that she witnessed, involving a squirrel and a car. There’s much more to the story but in honor of my sensitive soul, and yours, I won’t go into details.

As soon as she goes into her story, I regret asking. I have an incredibly difficult time hearing about animals being hurt. I immediately try to tune her out without much success.

Once I know she’s ok, I drive away, but my energy has already been completely thrown from my body. I’m able to get it back in check enough to see my friends off, but find myself intentionally replaying the scene like a movie in my mind for the next several hours.

During a walk with my sister, I share the vicious cycle going on in my head. As we chat about it, I realize that I believe, to honor other’s suffering, I, too must suffer. It feels wrong or inappropriate to try to forget the painful scene. If that squirrel, or the cyclist, is suffering, so should I.

Tapping (EFT) helps and makes it harder to conjure up the scene. Of course, I challenge myself to still do it! However, the releasing of the stuck energy through EFT gives me permission to let the scene go much more easily.

Hmm, where else in my life do I impart unnecessary suffering on myself? Where else do I make things more difficult than they need to be? Do I believe it’s not ok to enjoy the ease? I don’t think so, but it sure is something to watch for.

Is there a pattern or behavior that you struggle with? Have you ever considered intentionally shifting it instead of just letting it be what it is? Often times we settle for the way things are and we forget we have another option.

This week, I challenge you to explore other options. See where you can mix things up; where you can toss out the old to embrace ease.

Let’s chat in the comments below and share what you’ll be letting go of, or what you’d like some support on with tossing out.